Yep. That's kind of how I feel lately. I've been so busy, but I'm not really sure what all I've been doing either. I guess that's what happens when you're working all the time. However, this summer's been filled with little adventures as well.
In June we took our final family vacation. Well, final in that my sister's starting college next week, so with both of us off at school it's quite a bit harder to get the family together for trips the way we used to. Since we were going to be taking Hannah down to school anyway, we decided to go down to St. George for a week. It was so much fun and so nice to be able to just relax!
While we were down there we visited the
Tuacahn Theater (I would definitely recommend it to anyone - visiting that area or not!). The first show we saw was Victor Hugo's "
Les Miserables". This is my absolute favorite secular book of all time, so seeing the Operetta was wonderful! It was very exciting. The story is amazing and I've always loved the music as well. Especially the way it has recurring themes throughout the show. I.e.: there are multiple songs that talk of "unrequited love"; each has different lyrics and a different singer, but when you hear that melody, you know what the song's about.
The next show we went to was Rogers and Hammerstein's "
The Sound of Music". This story (the movie) has been near and dear to my heart for most of my life. It goes all the way back to when my mom would sing to me as a little munchkin. I can still remember watching The Sound of Music for the first time and hearing "My Favorite Things" and being so excited because "that's the song that mommy sang to me!" After that I would watch the movie religiously and, along with my sister, sing "Do Re Mi" to anyone and everyone that would give me a few seconds' attention. To top it all off, during my semester abroad I had the opportunity to visit Salzburg, Austria... the place where The Sound of Music takes place and was filmed. So, needless to say, I was pretty excited to see the play at the Tuacahn. ...and it was wonderful!
After our fun-filled week in St. George, my dad, brother and I headed back home for work and scout camp. I made it to 3 days of work before heading out on my next adventure: Seattle.
A little before I went to St. George, I received a phone call from an old friend inviting me to be his date for the wedding of a mutual friend. So... after sitting up to all hours of the night on the phone with my favorite person, I got up at 4:30 in the morning to make it to the airport for my 6:00 am flight. (I have my wonderful friend to thank for that one.) After arriving in Seattle, meeting his roommates and giving him a crash course in ballroom dance basics, we headed down to Vancouver (Washington) for the wedding. It was such a blast and I got to see some of my old friends from 5th-9th grade. It's amazing how little some of them had changed. :)
The next day we headed back up to Seattle and made a stop in the little town of Westport. It just so happened that they were having their annual "
Pirate Days" celebration. It was so cool! There was a cute little street market selling everything you can imagine, pirate-y and non, "Tug Boat" (along with others) singing pirate songs, and everyone was dressed up as pirates!!! I've always had a secret desire to be a pirate, so this was pretty exciting for me. I even saw a cute little old lady dressed as a pirate riding one of those motorized wheelchairs. I decided that'll be me in about 60 years.
Typical of the Pacific Northwest coast, it was about 58 degrees, cloudy, windy, and cold. Just what I was hoping for. I wandered around looking for seashells until I couldn't contain myself any longer and I kicked off my shoes and ran out into the tide. Then I turned around and ran right back out. It was freezing!! After a few minutes though, I was pretty numb to the cold and I had fun running around, in and out of the waves. Just before we were going to leave I saw a really cool seashell so I bent down to pick it up. I stood up just in time to see a HUGE wave hit me right at the waist. I was pretty wet after that. Luckily I had a change of clothes in the car. It would've been a long, miserable car ride otherwise. We even made it back to Seattle in time to watch people fly
kites into the sunset at
Gasworks Park. It was just like a scene out of a movie!
My last day in Seattle was spent wandering the streets of downtown Seattle. We visited the
Pike Place Market and saw some of the most beautiful flowers and of course, the famous
fish toss. And a trip to the market would not be complete without a visit to one of the pastry shops. There was a little Russian pastry shop,
Piroshky Piroshky, and everything looked and smelled amazing. It was impossible to walk past without at least stopping to look in the window and enjoying the aroma of freshly baked goodies. We stopped. And bought pastries. And devoured them. They were absolutely delectable! Before heading back to the get my bags and go to the airport, we made a stop at the
Sculpture Park. It was, ummm, interesting. I kind of liked some of the sculptures, but they were definitely very different and modern. Very fitting for Seattle.
Before I knew it, I was on an airplane heading back home. And although I only had a few sleep-deprived days there, it was such fun! And as for my big traveling adventures, that's my last one.... until August! :D
